Researchers have claimed that some parts of the Hawaiian Islands in the North Pacific that are currently dissolving by groundwater might disappear in future.

The study indicates that the Hawaiian Islands are now experiencing significant erosion while the groundwater under the islands is dissolving the island from within.

Researchers found that the mountains located on Oahu (Koolau and Waianae), Hawaii’s third largest island, are being destroyed and they are likely to vanish as the years go by.

Analyzing the mountains of Oahu revealed that dissolving material from within as well as those materials which are being carried off through erosion will lead the island’s mountains to turn into plains.

“We tried to figure out how fast the island is going away and what the influence of climate is on that rate,” said the geologist Steve Nelson at Brigham Young University.

To calculate the total quantity of mass that vanished from the island each year, the geologists studied groundwater and stream water of the area.

They also analyzed the two types of water to discover which removed more mineral material from the islands.

“The net effect is that Oahu will continue to grow for as long as 1.5 million years. Beyond that, the force of groundwater will eventually triumph and the island will begin its descent to a low-lying topography,” researchers estimate.